“See you in 2 weeks.” He yelled as he walked from Gwen’s house to his parent’s van where they all waited patiently for him to get in. Gwen felt like crying. She had just made new friends and now they were leaving. She kept her spirits up, at least for Isaac, though. Gwen waved to Ike, “See you guys later!” As they pulled away from the driveway, one thought crept through her mind. “What do I do now?”
*****
I’m so bored out of my mind!” Gwen screamed suddenly. “What the hell?!?” Zach yelled back as he trudged down the long staircase, scratching his head and yawning. She had not realized that he was sleeping. “Sorry man! I’m just so bored!” “Yeah, no kidding!” was his response. “Well, now that my only three freaking friends in this entire town are gone, what do I do?!?” Zach looked at her like she was the ditziest girl in the world. “Then, get off your lazy butt and go make new friends! Girls these days, I tell ya!….” She sat there and stared blankly as if his words turned her to stone. He was right and her always was. “God, I hate it when he is right!” Gwen thought to herself. So she did what she thought was best. Gwen put on her rollerblades and headed for the high school.
She realized it had taken he 2 months, since she moved to Tulsa, to go to the high school and meet some people. Was it the end of April already? These past few weeks had gone fast. After she had made it clear that she was on a friends only basis with the Hanson boys, the ride seemed a lot smoother. They hung out and talked about Forreston and John and Gwen’s friends and of course, they talked all about being in a band. It seemed to really interest Gwen so she listened carefully and asked a lot of questions. All in all, she felt that she could trust them and stay good friends with them even though they would be gone a lot. Or could she?
Luckily she then snapped out of it. Otherwise she would have ran smack dab into a tree.
Soon, after skating a few more blocks, she found herself in front of the drive of the high school. Great timing, the students were just getting out of class. As she skated in front of the large building, she became preoccupied with watching all the teenagers have fun and talk about their long day at school and Gwen didn’t notice the person standing in front of her. All of a sudden, Gwen came face to face with a boy, probably 15 or 16, holding her up and keeping her from falling. “Whoa, hold on. It’s okay!” the boy yelled as Gwen tried to pull away. Without thinking, she pushed him hard, sending him on his back, and she tried to skate away but he reached up and grabbed Gwen’s hand. “Hey!” he yelled. “You’re not going anywhere!”
*****
Ashley Redgrove stretched a little as she exited the doors of her school. “What a day!” she thought. Between a Chemistry quiz, a long paper due in Literature, and her huge driving test, she was just exhausted. She felt a yawn coming and just barely got 3 feet from the doors when her friend Randi came behind her and slapped her butt, which made her jump. “You are such an ass!” Ashley yelled as she pushed him really hard. He had been doing that to her since they were in kindergarten and she thought Randi was a total pervert. “You need a girlfriend to do that to, man!” “I know, but I can’t decide which one I should date. Every girl loves me!” Randi said. “Yeah right!” she thought and shook her head laughing. They walked a little further towards the parking lot until they heard a familiar voice behind them. Ashley turned to see her friends Keren and Travis walking toward them with their arms around each other’s shoulders. They were just walking along, seeming to have had a good day. Keren and Travis weren’t dating or anything. There were just good friends. “What’s up, you two love birds?” Travis remarked, referring to Randi and Ashley. “I saw you two!” “You’re dream’n!” Ashley replied. “Have any of you guys seen Eric around?” Keren asked. “No. He said he was driving us home.” replied Randi. They walked through the parking lot a little ways until Ashley spotted Eric. She saw him get pushed to the ground by some girl and then grabbing for her hand. “Hey, I think he got in a fight with some girl over there!” yelled Ashley pointing towards the road. “What?!?” they all yelled, going towards Eric.
*****
Gwen stood in shock, thinking of how stupid it was to push this guy. “What a great way to meet people!” she thought. The first thing that came out of her mouth was “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…I thought you…” Feeling bad, she helped him up. “It’s okay.” He said. “No harm done. Man, you’re strong!” “I’m sorry. I thought you were gonna hurt me or somethin’.” “Forget it. You must be new here.” Eric said. “Yeah…” Her words faded as she saw four teenagers running towards them. The shortest one asked “What’s wrong, Eric? What happened?” “It’s okay, Ash. I just scared this girl. She ran into me and I tried to keep her from falling.” Eric said. “Well, thanks!” Gwen said, starting to skate away. “Hey, wait!” Ashley yelled, signaling her back. “What’s her name, Eric?” “Well, I don’t know?” Eric said. “Oh, it’s Gwen.” she replied quickly. “Hi Gwen, I’m Eric. And this is Ashley, Randi, Keren, and Travis.” Eric said, pointing to them individually. She shook hands with them and they continued to ask Gwen questions. “You must be new in town. I haven’t seen you around school.” Keren said. “I just moved here at the end of February and am in 8th grade but I’m homeschooled.” Gwen replied. “So that would make you 13?” Travis asked in disbelief. “I’ll be 14 in May. How old are you guys?” Gwen asked. Randi spoke up finally “Me, Keren, and Ashley are 15. Eric is 16 and Trav is 17. You don’t exactly look 13.” Understanding what he meant, Keren chimed in “I believe he means she matured at an early age.” Still in confusion Randi shook his head. “I’m an only child, ‘kay!?” Randi said while everyone else giggled.
They all figured they should leave seeing that everyone, including the principal, had left the parking lot. So they all piled into Eric’s old, beat-up van. Just before leaving, though, Ashley rolled down her window and asked “You want to catch a ride home with us?” Gwen smiled and said “Yeah! That would be great!” When she got in the van, Eric asked “What road are you on?” “I’m at 1453 Willow Rd. Do you know where that is?” “Yeah!” Eric replied. “I live one block away from that and Trav and Keren live on that road. “Cool.” Gwen said, enthused. She was making friends already. Before exiting the van she got all their phone numbers and gave them hers. They promised they would get together soon. Before they pulled away, Randi thought, “I think I love her!” Gwen smiled at them as she walked to her door and opened it. She saw her younger sister right away and gave her a big hug. Right before going up to her room, she found Jordan and Zach sitting on the steps. Gwen went right up to them, smiling, and kissed them both on their foreheads. “EEEOOOW!” Zach yelled. “Our sister is sooooooooo weird!” Jordan added. When she reached her room, Gwen screamed “I love the entire world!” and collapsed on her bed. A million thoughts ran through her head. What great guys! Will they become good friends? Will they become my best friends? What will happen now?
*****
“Man, I thought that interview would never be over!” Isaac sighed as he collapsed in a chair in his hotel room. “You’re telling me!” Zac said sitting on the floor next to him. “Hey guys, what do you want to do tonight?” Taylor asked sitting on the bed. “Well,’ Ike said reaching for the phone ‘I’m gonna call Gwen and see what’s up back home.” He dialed her number and heard the tone of the busy signal. “Oh well,” Ike thought “she probably is on the phone with one of her friends.” Little did Ike know, but that was exactly what she was doing.
*****
“So, we’re going shopping on Saturday?” Gwen asked Ashley patiently. “Yep. I’ll pick you up at 9 a.m.” “Wow! You’re mom’s gonna let you drive?” Gwen asked. “Yah. She is really cool! She is so excited about meeting you.” “I can’t wait. See you on Saturday, Ash!” Gwen said, hanging up the phone. This was great! She had just met them two days ago and now she was going shopping with Ashley and Keren. It didn’t even bother them that Gwen was 2 years younger. Finally, she had new friends. But what about the other three?…
Two Days Later
“Bye guys!” Gwen yelled from her door to Keren and Ashley driving away from her house. What a great day, Gwen thought. She had gotten in a full day of shopping. Keren and Ashley had showed her around and got to know her better. They are sooooooooo nice, Gwen thought. Before going to her room, Gwen noticed that there were 4 messages on the answering machine so she pressed the message button and listened. “Hi Gwen, It’s Bridget. I haven’t heard from you in a while. Call me ‘kay? Bye.” “Hey everyone, it’s John. I just wanted to remind you all that I am graduating in 32 days. We need to discuss you coming home and stuff like that! Oh and Gwen, Don says hi! Call me! Bye!” “Hi Gwen, it’s Eric. I just wondered if you wanted to go rollerblading across town with me. If you want to come meet me at my house at six. Bye!” Gwen got so excited that she just grabbed her jacket and her blades and headed out the door, forgetting the last message. “Hey Gwen, It’s Isaac. I just wanted to tell you that we won’t be coming home next week like planned. We have to stay here until the end of May. Sorry about missing your birthday! So, we’ll see you then. Me, Zac or Tay will try to call. Oh and everyone says hi! See you soon.” YOUR MESSAGES WILL NOW BE ERASED. BEEP!
I Will Remember You
Go to Chapter 5
